Nail holding attachment for hammers



P 1953 A. P. ZANELLI 2,652,082

NAIL HOLDING ATTACHMENT FOR HAMMERS Filed June 8, 1951 Patented Sept.15, 1953 "NAIL HOLDING ATTACHMENT FOR HAMMERS Albert P. Zanelli,Wyckoff, N. J.

Application June 8, 1951, Serial No. 230,529

1 Claim.

This invention relates to an attachment designed for use in connectionwith hammer or hatchet heads, the primary object of the invention beingto provide means for holding nails so that they may be positionedwithout the necessity of holding the nails with the fingers.

An important object of the invention is to provide a device of thischaracter embodying a plurality of spring jaws spaced apart varyingdistances so that nails of various sizes may be held in the device forpositioning.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a nail holdingdevice of this character in the form of a circular device provided withspring jaws for clamping nail heads, the device being rotatably mountedso that predetermined jaws may be moved to a position to facilitate theaccurate placing of nails in restricted areas or close to a wall Withthe foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as thedescription proceeds, the invention consists of certain novel details ofconstruction and combination of parts, hereinafter more fully describedand pointed out in the claim, it being understood that changes may bemade in the construction and arrangement of parts without departing fromthe spirit of the invention as claimed.

Referring to the drawing:

Figure 1 is an elevational view illustrating a hammer head equipped witha nail holding device construction in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view of a portion of the head and nailsecuring and holding device.

Fig. 3 is a plan view illustrating a modified form of the invention.

Referring to the drawing in detail, the reference character 5 indicatesa hammer head, which is of conventional form, and to which the nailholding device forming the subject matter of the present invention, issecured.

The nail holding device is indicated generally by the referencecharacter 6 and is disclike in formation, and is constructed of suitableyieldable material such as spring steel or the like, the nail holderbeing provided with cut-out portions 7 extending inwardly from theperiphary thereof, which cut-out portions vary in width to accommodatenails of various diameters, to the end that a nail of a predetermineddiameter may be positioned in such a way that it will be held againstmovement or wobbling, as it is being positioned by the hammer.

As clearly shown by Fig. 2 of the drawing, the center of the disc-likenail holder is recessed at 8 providing curved portions 9 which lendresiliency to the jaws l0 formed between the cut-out portions 1. Thedisc-like nail holder is formed with slots II that extend inwardly fromthe inher ends of the cut-out portions 1, terminating at a pointadjacent to the recessed portion 8. This structure presents jaws whichare movable independently of each other so that the jaws presentindependent spring tensioning means at each side of the nail head heldwithin a cutout portion 1, thereby providing greater flexibility of thejaws with less danger of breakage of the jaws.

The outer ends of the jaws are curved upwardly at I2, so that the nailhead positioned under the jaws may be readily slid into position andheld firmly against accidental displacement.

An opening is formed centrally of the disclike nail holder, throughwhich the headed screw I 3 extends, the screw being threaded in anopening formed in the side of the hammer head, as illustrated by Fig. 2of the drawing, the screw I3 being so positioned that it will permit ofready rotation of the disc-like nail holder to locate a particularcut-out portion adjacent to the outer edge of the hammer head tofacilitate positioning a nail a ainst a wall or other restricted area.

As shown by Fig. 3 of the drawing, the nail holder is substantiallytriangular in shape and is indicated by the reference character I4, thenail holder being held in position on the side of a hammer head by thescrew 15. Extending inwardly from the curved edge of the nail holder !4are cut-out portions [6 of various widths, which define yieldable jawsI1, between which nails of various diameters may be positioned. In thisform of the invention slots l8 are provided to lend resiliency to thejaws to permit them to move while the head of a nail is being positionedthereunder.

From the foregoing it will be noted that due to the construction shownand described, I have pro vided a nail holder which is adapted forholding nails of various diameters to facilitate positioning of thenails in restricted areas, without the necessity of holding the nailswith the fingers of the hands.

It will further be seen that due to this construction the holder may berotated to bring a cut-out portion or a pair of jaws to a particularposition adjacent to the outer edge of the hammer head to permit thehead to move closely to a wall in positioning the nail.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

A nail holding device for the head of a nail driving tool, comprising adisc-like body portion constructed of sheet metal material having acentral depressed portion and an opening through the central depressedportion, said body having cut-out portions extending inwardly from theedge thereof terminating at points adjacent to the depressed portion,providing pairs of jaws with parallel side edges, portions of the bodybeing slit from the inner ends of the cut-out portions to points at theedge of the depressed portion, said jaws adapted to grip a nail held 4therebetween, and a pivot screw extending through the opening in thecenter of the body portion rotatably mounting the body portion on thehead of the tool.

ALBERT P. ZANELLI.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 10Number Name Date 704,006 Dempsey July 8, 1902 1,247,683 Hritz et al Nov.27, 1917 1,695,339 Lockhead Dec. 18, 1928

